Le Chardonnay
320 W. Johnson
Madison, WI
Madison’s semi-annual Restaurant Week gives us a chance to sample some higher-end restaurants that poor graduate students like don’t typically frequent. After checking over the menu offerings at a number of different places, we settled for the French/North African fare of Le Chardonnay. Le Chardonnay is tucked into a low-key corner of Johnson Street, an we had passed by many times none the wiser. Upon entering, the restaurant itself is intimate and cozy and features intricate mosaics on the walls. We were seated in a cute table for 2 in the corner, which presented us with one of the only drawbacks of the night – it was cold by the windows! Of course, this is probably accounted by the minus 10 windchill (Thanks Madison).
As per our restaurant week tradition, we make a point of each ordering different items off the prix-fixe menu. For appetizers we shared Butternut Squash Soup and Normandy Style Prince Edward Islands Mussels in apple cider cream – M hadn’t had mussels before, and is usually not a fan of seafood, but these hit the spot. The texture of the mussels avoided the unappealing sliminess that can be such a turnoff, while the big hit was the apple cider cream sauce. Great sauces are the foundations of all good French cooking, and our request for extra bread to sop up the cream was an indicator of just how much we liked it. Le Chardonnay has a special on mussels every week – with a different featured sauce each time.
L ordered the Moroccan chicken tajine with carrots, potatoes & garbanzo beans. A tajine is a traditional Moroccan stew cooked in a clay pot (called a Tajine, where the name originates from). However, this version of the tajine came presented on a crisp white plate, with a ladling of sauce over the garbanzo beans and potatoes. Unfortunately, the tajine fell a little flat, it was definitely not spicy enough, containing nary a hint of Moroccan spice. M picked the spinach terrine with scallions, flat-leaf parsley and ricotta, drizzled with a spicy béchamel. The terrine itself was very pretty, and we have to say elegant (we don’t see the terrine trotted out on many menus these days). As for taste, the terrine was good, but frankly a little bland. The best part was the spicy béchamel , which added a much-needed little kick.
For dessert M ordered Grand Marnier Chocolate Mousse and L had tiramisu. The desserts, other than the mussels, were our favorite part of the meal. The chocolate mousse was rich dark chocolate and the tiramisu was the perfect blend of espresso, cake and cream. Through the dinner we were charmed by the attentive staff and the flawless water service (sometimes perhaps a little too attentive, with refills every couple of minutes). All in all everything we had at Le Chardonnay was good, if not slightly bland. Though French food isn’t particularly known for its spice, we were hoping more of the North African influence would shine through.
